Sunday, June 29, 2014

Last Monday and Tuesday, an estimated forty to fifty DWA employees were called in for one-on-one meetings and informed their services would no longer be required. (The studio, according to the DreamWorks people we talked to, didn't have enough features that required staff building front-end production elements, so employees in departments that were overstaffed -- and who didn't have longer-term contracts or assignments -- were given their walking papers.)

Most, according to DreamWorkers who contacted us, were told to clear out their desks the day of their meetings.

"I get that the company needs to be cautious, but I talked to one employee who said she wasn't allowed back to her desk. She was kind of upset." ....

Another employee said:

"DreamWorks doesn't want somebody who's ticked off to go back and do something to their work or their computers. ..."

The company is working to align staff with the number of in-development/in-production features lined up on the tarmac. Separated employees who contacted us say their contracts are being paid out.

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comments:

"DreamWorks doesn't want somebody who's ticked off to go back and do something to their work or their computers. ..."

Then maybe the company shouldn't do stuff to get people "ticked off" ... like letting them go with no notice and not even allow them the dignity of a day to clean out their cubicles and say goodbye to co-workers. This sneaky weasel tactic of abruptly hauling someone in to HR to let them know "your services are no longer required" and then immediately having security march them out to the front gate is punitive , as if they did something wrong and are being fired , as opposed to "sorry we don't have anything else to put you on right now , so we need to let you go for a while , but thanks for all your hard work to get the last picture finished up on time and looking great" . It's a fundamental lack of respect and yes that would "tick off" most people.

It doesn't seem like they care too much about pulling talent back. 3-10 weeks to push new-hires through their training classes doesn't seem cost effective. You would think they would want to keep their talent base knowledgeable in proprietary techniques loyal, because someday they might want to grow a bit ; that is if they can get their story formula right someday...

The formula is to make cartoons for kids. JK has been trying to make cartoons for both adults and kids for ages. If you just make a good cartoon for kids, the adults will go too. What it boils down to is that they just miss that magic...

These days, it should be trivial for a system administrator to remove an employee's login and shut down their computer while they are in the office getting the bad news. That way, the employee should be free to return to his or her desk, take their personal belongings and say their goodbye.

The economics of this business are often hard, but there's no reason to treat people poorly, especially when the layoff is not their fault.

The thoughts and observations of the leaders of The Animation Guild (TAG), Local 839 IATSE. Jason MacLeod is the Business Representative, Laura Hohman is the President. Mike Sauer is Assistant to the Business Representative.

This weblog reflects their individual personal opinions and does not necessarily represent the official position of the Animation Guild.

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